Charles Curtis

Charles Curtis (25 January 1860-8 February 1936) was Vice President of the United States from 4 March 1929 to 4 March 1933, succeeding Charles G. Dawes and preceding John Nance Garner. He previously served as a member of the US House of Representatives (R-KS 4) from 4 March 1893 to 4 March 1899 (succeeding John G. Otis and preceding James Monroe Miller and from KS 1 from 4 March 1899 to 28 January 1907 (succeeding Case Broderick and preceding Daniel Read Anthony Jr.), as well as US Senator from Kansas from 29 January 1907 to 4 March 1913 (succeeding Alfred W. Benson and preceding William Howard Thompson) and from 4 March 1915 to 3 March 1929 (succeeding Joseph L. Bristow and preceding Henry Justin Allen). He was the first Native American and non-European to hold one of the top two executive branch positions in US history.

Biography
Charles Curtis was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1860 to a white father and a mother of mostly Native American ancestry. As an attorney, he entered political life at the age of 32, and he represented his district in Topeka in the US House of Representatives from 1893 to 1899 and from 1899 to 1907. He also served in the US Senate from 1907 to 1913 and from 1915 to 1929, and his popularity and connections made him an effective Senate Majority Leader from 28 November 1924 to 4 March 1929. In 1928, Curtis was selected as Herbert Hoover's running mate, and he became Vice President on 4 March 1929, becoming the first Native American and non-European to sit in the top two positions in the executive branch. However, the inability of Hoover to fix the Great Depression led to Hoover and Curtis losing to Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner in a landslide in 1932. Curtis died in 1936.